I was reading this article on the Indy Star today about Donald Brown and found this stat interesting

The Colts have had a single run of more than 40 yards the past four seasons

Based off of this stat, we can determin what we all knew for quite some time after Edge sustained that knee injury: We have never been a home run running team.

However, Donald Brown can change all that

When I first looked up Donald Brown's performance at the combine, I thought he was in the same mold as Addai. An all around back, with good quickness and speed, who would rip off 5-10 yard gains consistantly. Although I felt (and still feel) it didn't spell the end for Addai, I thought this pick was simply made to push him. But when you examine Brown's college footage, you will notice that he hit the long run on numerous occasions.

By comparison, when you examin Addai's footage, you will notice that he only broke one run of over 40 yards at the beginning of the film. He is more of that post-injury Edge: a guy who will get you consistent decent yardage, but never a homerun

This tell's us that the reason why Brown was drafted is to bring an added dimension to this offense. For years, teams knew the Colts can hit the homerun one way and one way only; through the air. Even when we ran the ball well, hitting the long pass wasn't always easy. If anyone has the game tape of the Colts/Patriots back in the '07 season, please watch it. You will notice that although Addai ripped off consistant 10 yard runs, our receivers were well covered when we tried to attack down the field on playaction passes. Granted, Manning did have to work with Aaron Moorehead and Devin Aromashodu (could have been Thorpe, I dont remember), but an effective running game should have given Wayne and Clark room to roam. In the end it didn't, because teams know passing is our only home run threat.

But what if we did have a back capable of taking it the distance? can you imagine not only having a consistant ground game that gets around 4 yards a run and a game breaker who can take it the distance? It would force teams to start commiting 8 man boxes and think twice about making the passing game their primary purpose. This might even open up the playbook a bit more. Maybe add some bootlegs or utilize the I-formation a bit more allowing us to audible into a two TE set since the H-back will shift from FB to TE.

I believe Brown can allow us to do these things. If he is the homerun threat this offense has been missing, the posibilities are endless